Radio frequency receiver system for wideband signal processing

ABSTRACT

Wireless communication is ubiquitous today and deployments are growing rapidly leading to increased interference, increasing conflicts, etc. As a result monitoring the wireless environment is increasingly important for regulators, service providers, Government agencies, enterprises etc. Such monitoring should be flexible in terms of the networks being monitored within the wireless environment but should also provide real-time monitoring to detect unauthorized transmitters, provide dynamic network management, etc. Accordingly, based upon embodiments of the invention, a broadband, real-time signal analyzer (RTSA) circuit that allows for the deployment of RTSA devices in a distributed environment wherein determination of policy breaches, network performance, regulatory compliance, etc. are locally determined and exploited directly in network management or communicated to the central server and network administrators for subsequent action. Beneficially the RTSA exploits a broadband RF front end in conjunction with parallel direct down conversion and FFT techniques.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication U.S. 61/532,191 filed Sep. 8, 2011 entitled “Radio FrequencyReceiver System for Wideband Signal Processing” the entire contents ofwhich are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to RF receivers and more specifically tobroadband front-end receivers for real-time signal analysis.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Wireless communication is ubiquitous and deployments are growingrapidly. In 2008 the International Telecommunication Union estimated thenumber of mobile telephones at 4.1 billion with a worldwide populationof approximately 6.8 billion people (ITU Corporate Annual Report,http://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-s/opb/conf/S-CONF-AREP-2008-E06-PDF-E.pdf).Portio Research estimates the number of mobile telephones will grow to5.8 billion by 2013, fueled by Asia-Pacific particularly, which by 2013will account for 43.9 percent of subscribers, followed by Europe (25.0percent), Africa and Middle East (12.2 percent), Latin America (11.2percent) and North America (7.6 percent) (“Mobile Factbook 2009”http://www.portiodirect.com/productDetail.aspx?pid=49$55$51$431). By2014, global mobile Internet users expected to send and receive 1.6Exabytes of mobile data each month, which is more than the 1.3 Exabytestransferred during the whole of 2008, according to ABI Research(http://www.abiresearch.com/press/1466-In+2014+Monthly+Mobile+Data+Traffic+Will+Exceed+2008+Total).

Cellular phones are evolving into hand-held computers with voice, dataand video multimedia applications and accordingly, there is theassociated increasing demand for more bandwidth. IDC estimates theannual shipment of Bluetooth-enabled devices as 1.2 billion devices andgrowing with 20% CAGR(http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?sessionId=&containerId=219098&sessionId=UDMGOJ2XGTN JMCQJAFICFGAKBEAUMIWD). In-Stat estimates theannual shipment of WLAN-enabled devices is 380 million and growing 24%CAGR (“Global Wi-Fi Chipset Forecast and Analysis: 2007 to 2013”http://www.instat.com/abstract.asp?id=167&SKU=IN0904005 WS).Additionally, the cost of deploying a wireless system is decreasing byhalf compounded every five years (The Economist, Apr. 10, 2008).

By contrast the wireless spectrum is a scarce and limited resourceallocated in to many different communications and RF applications withonly a few small segments for the many different communication usesassociated with wireless devices by consumers and business users (seefor example www.ntia.doc.gov/osmhome/allochrt.pdf). The recent auctionof spectrum in the US provides a good indication of spectrum scarcityand resulting value where in 2008, the US Federal CommunicationsCommission (FCC) auctioned a relatively tiny 62 MHz segment of spectrumacross the United States for a total of US$19.6B(http://wireless.fcc.gov/auctions/default.htm?job=auction_summary&id=73)to a collection of telecommunications service providers includingVerizon and AT&T. This spectrum was made available as a result of thedigital television (DTV) transition away from analog TV(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_(—)2008_wireless_spectrum_auction).

To satisfy the increasing demands for performance and throughput,wireless physical layer designs are becoming increasingly complex. Ithas been nearly thirty years since the first commercial wireless networkusing frequency division multiple access, so-called 1G technology wasdeveloped. Next came time division multiple access (TDMA) in 2G GlobalSystem for Mobile Communications (GSM) systems in the 1990s followed bycode division multiple access (CDMA) in 3.xG systems in the early 2000s.4G networks of Long Term Evolution (LTE) and WiMAX are currently in theplanning and deployment stages and the next generation wireless localarea network (LAN) 802.11n systems are pushing throughput towards 100Mbps with Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (MIMO) and orthogonal frequencydivision multiple access (OFDMA) approaches. Such modern wirelesscommunication systems employ sophisticated RF technologies that includefrequency hopping, complex modulation and packet-based transmissionformats. These new data-centric wireless systems are complex to deploy,operate, maintain and monitor.

Wireless communications are increasingly subjected to radiointerference. As the density of wireless devices increases so does thedensity of wireless base stations. To satisfy a city of millions ofcellular users, each with increased cellular usage, requires aprogressively denser mesh of cellular base stations, and theseincreasingly interfere with each other. Simultaneously corporations areincreasingly deploying or expanding wireless networks. Wireless 802.11LAN occupies the same spectrum as Bluetooth, cordless phones andmicrowave ovens and “must accept any interference”(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISM_band). In addition to these sources ofunintentional interference there is the issue of RF devices transmittingwith malicious intent and the requirement in some environments forreal-time radio jamming of transmitter signals.

The rapid growth of deployments, scarcity of spectrum, complexity ofsolutions, congestion and interference are increasingly compoundedproblems for those deploying, managing, maintaining and monitoringwireless services. The wireless spectrum is a shared resource. Worldwidenational governments not only license the use of the spectrum but mustalso police that spectrum. Policing ensures that those who are notauthorized are not transmitting and those who have spent billions ofdollars licensing portions of the spectrum have unencumbered access tothose portions. Specifically, government agencies monitor the wirelessspectrum within their countries to determine the occupancy withinspecific segments of the spectrum, to enforce allocation, to policeissues pertaining to interference, and for a variety of other legal andstrategic objectives.

Consequently this results in either the requirement to maintain anddeploy expensive personnel and equipment to continually or periodicallymonitor wireless activity within a network or environment or a decisionto not monitor and police the wireless spectrum. Accordingly it would bebeneficial for a wide bandwidth, real-time spectrum analyzer to beprovided supporting applications across geographically distributed andlocalized networks allowing enforcement and monitoring of regulated,sensitive, and/or problematic wireless environments

Wireless communications and networks are deployed by telecommunicationsservice providers, governments, corporations and the home user. Serviceproviders are challenged by the compounding problems of increased numberand density of users, increased user usage, and demands for increasedbandwidth. The deployment, operation and maintenance of next generationwireless services are as a result increasing the demands for test,monitoring and “visibility” of the wireless physical layer without thesimilar deployment issues of deploying expensive personnel and/orequipment to at best accomplish intermittent and often inadequatemonitoring. Corporate and government information technology (IT) groupsface similar if not worse problems in the deployment, operation andmaintenance of wireless networking infrastructure where commonstandards, such as IEEE 802.11, result in wireless products operating inunlicensed frequency bands. Such groups therefore not only faced withissues in installing wireless local area networks (WLANs) but supportingongoing demand for density and bandwidth whilst reducing interferencefrom a broad range of sources which may be transitory in nature andagile in frequency.

In addition to ensuring wireless connectivity, preventing wirelessconnectivity has also become an issue. A growing segment of largecorporate and government departments for example require the enforcementof a no-wireless policy. A no-wireless policy is intended to prevent forexample the inadvertent or malicious listening of sensitive,proprietary, confidential or secret information within meeting rooms viaa cell phone or an eavesdropping device. Such policy enforcement ischallenged by the breadth and complexity of wireless devices, which areevolving rapidly in terms of functionality, complexity and performance.

Applications for spectrum monitoring also extend to other environments,for example the battlefield. Equipping military personnel with the meansto monitor and analyze their RF environment for communication activity,signal jammers and other threats is becoming a necessity in today'sworld of ubiquitous wireless devices, improvised explosive devices withremote triggers, etc.

Today, these varying regulators, service provider, and groups musteither deploy laboratory or hand-held spectrum analyzers that areexpensive, not designed for remote interconnected deployment andcentralized management, and are not designed for real-time analysis ofwireless signals or exploit hand-held spectrum/signal analyzers targetedto specific narrowband environments. Neither solution addresses therequirement for a compact, low cost, wide bandwidth, real-time spectrumanalyzer that may be deployed in volume across geographic regions, andprovides analysis of signals that in many instances are characterized byshort duration, varying frequency through frequency hopping, arbitraryfrequencies, intermittent operation, and which arise in-band orout-of-band with the normal environment of other wireless signalsoperating according to multiple protocols, often with high density.

There is also the requirement for such real-time spectrum analysis tooperate in conjunction with wireless infrastructures that ranges frommacrocells characterized by large antenna tower structures spaced manykilometers apart to picocells and femtocells where network accesspoints, base stations, are meters or tens or meters apart. Theapplications of such real-time distributed spectrum analysis includeinterference detection, no-wireless or selective-wireless policyenforcement, spectrum management, signals intelligence (SIGINT),communications intelligence (COMINT), electronic intelligence (ELINT)and signal /interference analysis.

Accordingly it would be beneficial to provide regulatory authorities,service providers as well as network operators etc. with low cost, widebandwidth, real-time network deployable spectrum analyzers allowinggeographically distributed real-time monitoring as well localizedmonitoring functions to be implemented. Such low cost, wide bandwidth,real-time network deployable spectrum analyzers require a highperformance, wideband, fast, programmable wide frequency range RFreceiver. Wireless RF communications and other microwave applicationsrange within the United States are covered by the FCC regulations up to300 GHz (see http://www.ntia.doc.gov/osmhome/allochrt.html forallocations) although within this document for discussion purposes andby way of illustration a frequency range from 0.10 to 8 GHz will beconsidered.

Considering the prior art this currently is distributed betweengenerally large RF test equipment, from companies such as Agilent,Tektronix, Anritsu, Ando, etc., allowing measurements and analysis overa wide frequency spectrum, for example 0 MHz-6000 MHz as well asvariants for hand-held use and specific test equipment addressing aparticular market with limited functionality and limited frequency rangeas well as being pre-programmed in terms of assumptions for that marketwhereas RF test equipment provides increased flexibility. Consideringthe later then typical examples include the hand-held Agilent N9342CHandheld Spectrum Analyzer (7 GHz) with a full-band sweep ofapproximately 400 ms (17.5 GHz/s tuning speed) and costing approximately$13,000 and the Agilent E4404B ESA-E Spectrum Analyzer (6.7 GHz) withimproved noise performance albeit at reduced sweep speed forapproximately $35,000. Retail prices for other laboratory spectrumanalysers may rise from approximately $10,000 to over $100,000 perinstrument according to bandwidth, noise floor, etc.

Such instruments exploit scanning RF receivers based uponsuper-heterodyne techniques that are well known in the prior art whereinthe received RF signal (RF) is mixed with a local oscillator (LO), i.e.heterodyned, converted to an intermediate frequency (IF) and processed.In a spectrum analyzer the LO is swept across the band of interest at apredetermined rate according to scanned range, resolution bandwidth,etc. Typically, such spectrum analysers in order to provide highresolution employ narrow intermediate frequencies (the output frequencyfrom the mixer combining the LO and RF signals) that may be for example1 kHz, 100 Hz, or 1 Hz. Such low IF being achieved through multipleheterodyne stages with multiple LO signals. A classic super-heterodynereceiver according to the prior art, see for example AgilentTechnologies Application Note 150 “Spectrum Analyser Basics”(http://cp.literature.agilent.com/litweb/pdf/5952-0292.pdf) as depictedby super-heterodyne receiver 1550 in FIG. 1B.

An alternative to super-heterodyne receivers is the direct-conversionreceiver (DCR) that is much simpler to implement in integrated circuitform, see for example B. Razavi in “Design Considerations forDirect-Conversion Receivers” (IEEE Trans. Circuits & Systems II—Analogand Digital Signal Processing, Vol 44(6), pp. 428-435). In a DCR the RFband of interest is translated down to the baseband in only oneconversion. Other names for this receiver architecture are zero-IF orhomodyne. While the shortcomings of such receivers include DC and I/Qoffsets in the baseband output, the main advantages are low-costimplementation and large instantaneous bandwidth. DCRs are typicallyfound in high volume consumer device communications chipsets forapplications such as Bluetooth (IEEE 802.15) and Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11)with a constant frequency range of operation thereby limiting the impactof these shortcomings.

Signal analysis instrumentation includes for example the N9010A EXASignal Analyzer (7 GHz) in a laboratory instrument retailing forapproximately $35,000 with ability to implement pre-determined WLANmeasurement applications or operate without them for more general signalanalysis. Dedicated instruments include for example Fluke AirCheck™Wi-Fi Tester for IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n networks which provides signalmonitoring across Channels 1-14 in the 2.4 GHz band (2412-2484 MHz) butonly Channels 34, 36, 38, 40, 42, 44, 46, 48, 52, 56, 60, 100, 104, 108,112, 116, 120, 124, 128, 132, 136, 140, 149, 153, 157, 161, 165 in the 5GHz Band (5170-5320 MHz, 5500-5700 MHz, and 5745-5825 MHz) but costs$2,000.

Others include for example Berkeley Varitronics Beetle for IEEE802.11a/b/n/g and exploit typically identical RF receiver circuits asthe portable wireless devices that access the networks these devicesmonitor but with dedicated network analysis software controlling thereceiver or discrete circuits employing elements designed for use innetwork infrastructure elements where cost-performance tradeoffs aredifferent to consumer ASICs for example. Accordingly such devices employa transceiver such as depicted in FIG. 1B by transceiver 1000.

Within the prior art spectrum analysis has been the subject ofsubstantial research and publications leading to continuous improvementsand enhancements of commercial spectrum analysers from manufacturerssuch as Agilent, Tektronix, Anritsu, Ando, etc. Spectrum analyzers areused in a number of different applications including signalsintelligence (SIGINT), communications intelligence (COMINT) and spectrummonitoring. For such applications, the emergence of complex modulationformats, frequency hopping waveforms and packet-based, intermittenttransmissions in today's communications systems has led to therequirement to monitor the spectrum over a range of frequencies in amanner that all spectral activity is captured. Conventional swept-tunedSpectrum Analyzers typically performed non-coherent signal detectionover a relatively small frequency range of interest.

A Realtime Spectrum Analyzer by comparison is one that is able to samplethe incoming RF signal in the time domain and convert the information tothe frequency domain using a Fast-Fourier Transform (FFT) process. Therange of frequencies processed in one FFT calculation is limited to theinstantaneous bandwidth of the receiver. The frequency range that isprocessed instantaneously can be ten or more times greater than thatprocessed by a conventional spectrum analyzer. FFTs are processed inparallel, with no gaps and overlapped so there are no gaps in thecalculation. As a result all signals that appear across theinstantaneous bandwidth of the analyzer are detected. When monitoring arange of spectrum that exceeds the instantaneous bandwidth of theanalyzer, that real-time display is really a series of discrete timespecific measurements over different frequency ranges as evident fromthe teaching of K. Bernard in US Patent Application 2008/0,258,706entitled “Wide-Bandwidth Spectrum Analysis of Transient Signals using aReal-Time Spectrum Analyzer”. Bernard describes the real-time spectrumanalyzer (RTSA) as operating by selection of a frequency window, thefrequency window being narrower in bandwidth than the frequency spectrumof interest.

The RTSA is then successively tuned to a plurality of differentfrequencies within the frequency spectrum of interest, where suchsuccessive tuning is controlled based on a characteristic of the signal.The RF signal is received, and, for each of the plurality of differentfrequencies, power data is acquired for the signal in a band centered onthe frequency and having a bandwidth equal to that of the frequencywindow. A representation of the frequency spectrum of interest is thenconstructed from the power data acquired during the successive tuningsof the RTSA. Accordingly, it is necessary to know where the transientsignal will appear in order for the RTSA of Bernard to captureinformation on the signal. It is also clear that a single transientpulse would not be captured in anything other than a measurement at thefirst tuned frequency of the RTSA.

Similarly, F. LaMarche et al in U.S. Pat. No. 7,957,938 entitled “Methodand Apparatus for a High Bandwidth Oscilloscope utilizing MultipleChannel Digital Bandwidth Interleaving” teaches to a method ofperforming wide-band spectral analysis of transient signals wherein theanalog signal spanning a frequency range into a plurality of frequencybands, and then translating at least one of the signals to a lowerfrequency band in accordance with a local oscillator and digitizing theat least one translated signal with digitizing elements having afrequency range less than the analog signal frequency range. LA Marchesteaching that the sampled signal is then recirculated in a circularbuffer with signals corresponding to the other of the plurality offrequency bands being similarly digitized and written to correspondingcircular buffers. The digitized data from the plurality of frequencybands is then employed to re-construct the analog signal allowing forsubsequent processing to generate the spectral content.

J. Earls et al in US Patent Application 2005/0,207,512 entitled“Multi-Channel Simultaneous Real-Time Spectrum Analysis with OffsetFrequency Trigger” teaches a RTSA wherein a wideband IF signal derivedfrom a wideband RF signal is provided to both a wideband IF channel anda narrowband IF channel simultaneously. The Wideband IF signal outputfrom the Wideband IF channel is sampled at a high sample rate withrelatively low resolution to produce wideband signal data. The widebandIF signal input to the narrowband IF channel is frequency offset by avariable amount according to a region in the wideband IF signal where afrequency trigger event is expected and then narrowband filtered toproduce a narrowband IF signal. The narrowband IF signal is sampled at arelatively low sample rate with high resolution to produce high dynamicrange signal data for input to a frequency trigger function.

Within the prior art Dong et al. in US Patent Application 2010/0,304,703entitled “Multiple Frequency Band Hybrid Receiver” have described areceiver architecture primarily intended for communications signalprocessing. An example of its application is a dual-band Wi-Fi chip setoperating at both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. In this architecture differentfrequency bands are input to a plurality of input terminals, in otherwords there is no overlap between the frequency ranges input to thedifferent terminals. As well the lowest frequency band is associatedwith a direct-conversion process. All other frequency bands aredown-converted to the input frequency of the mixer associated with thelowest frequency band. No pre-selector filter banks or switchablechannel filters associated with the super-heterodyne stages.

Accordingly, the prior art of Bernard and Earls exploit conventionalprior art super-heterodyne receivers without consideration of how thatproviding a true RTSA impacts the design and implementation of the RFfront-end. In contrast LaMarche teaches to the use of bandedsuper-heterodyne receivers to split a single RF input into 4 bandswherein the outputs of the multiple bands are digitized after processingto bring their RF power levels to approximately the optimum input powerfor the analog-to-digital convertors (ADCs). Likewise the prior art ofDong discussed above exploits prior art super-heterodyne receivers toalways downconvert non-overlapping frequency bands to the lowestfrequency band and accordingly frequency bands are always down-convertedby a common final mixer and higher bands are down-converted multipletimes to this lowest band.

In contrast, recent work by Cognio Inc., now part of Cisco Systems Inc.,has considered signal analysis for determining whether to jam anunauthorized transmission occurring within a predetermined region, seefor example N. R. Diener et al in U.S. Pat. No. 7,142,108 entitled“System and Method for Monitoring and Enforcing a Restricted WirelessZone” (hereinafter referred to as Diener '108) and N. R. Diener et al inU.S. Pat. No. 7,184,777 entitled “Server and Multiple Sensor System forMonitoring Activity within a Shared Radio Frequency Band” (hereinafterreferred to as Diener '777). Diener '108 teaches that at each locationwithin the predetermined region a spectrum monitoring section analysesall activity within a narrow predetermined band, e.g. 2.400-2.483 GHzISM, 5.725-5.825 GHz Upper U-NII (U-NII-3) band for example, based uponapplying a Fast-Fourier Transform (FFT) to received pulsed signals withmultiple FFT intervals to determine a power versus frequency plot. Thisdata is then sent, using a different frequency range and transmissionstandard, to a central server for every cycle of the FFT process alongwith additional information derived from a co-hosted traffic monitoringstation that operates using International standard protocols, such asIEEE 802.11, to generate probe requests and receive responses allowinglegitimate traffic to be identified or transmitting nodes operatingaccording to the International standard to be located.

Each of Diener '108 and Diener '777 utilize a spectrum analysis engine(SAGE) as described by G. L. Sugar et al in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,714,605 and7,224,752 entitled “System and Method for Real-Time Spectrum Analysis ina Communication Device”; Sugar et al in U.S. Pat. No. 7,254,191 entitled“System and Method for Real-Time Spectrum Analysis in a Radio Device”;and D. Kloper et al in U.S. Pat. No. 7,606,335 entitled “Signal PulseDetection Scheme for Use in Real-Time Spectrum Analysis.” The SAGE alsoproviding spectral analysis for other aspects of management of wirelessinfrastructure taught by Cognio including U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,850,735;7,269,151; 7,079,812; 7,116,943; 7,171,161; 6,941,110; 7,035,593; U.S.Pat. Nos. 7,110,756; and 7,292,656 as well as US Patent Application2003/0,198,200; 2007/0,264,939; and 2008/0,019.464.

As presented by Sugar and Kloper the SAGE is presented as a hardwareaccelerator to determine information about pulses occurring within apredetermined frequency range, determined in dependence upon thewireless network that the SAGE is monitoring, and provides informationto network infrastructure elements allowing network managementactivities to be performed, these being the subject of the other patentsidentified above in respect of Cognio although it would be noted thatother prior exists in respect of managing networks based upon determinedcharacteristics of activity within the network. The SAGE, as describedin respect of FIG. 2 below, does not consider any aspect of the designof the RF front-end apart from an RF interface which adjusts the gainprovided to the received RF signal such that the maximum signal receivedin the last T seconds (for example 1 second) is 6 dB below thefull-scale of the analog-to-digital converter (ADC) within the RFinterface.

The digitized RF signal from the RF interface, actually the digitized IFsignal received, is windowed and processed with a Fast-Fourier Transform(FFT) to convert the digitized signal to the frequency domain. The FFTprocessed IF signal is then coupled to a plurality of peak detectors andpulse detectors which make decisions based upon predeterminedcharacteristics of signals anticipated as present within the network,i.e. the pulse has a predetermined width. The decisions from the pulsedetectors and peak detectors are then used through a series of rules todetermine whether the SAGE will capture a portion of the received RFsignal and/or forward the power measurements to memory. The SAGE onlycaptures on a consistent basis statistical data from the FFT.Accordingly, signals outside the pulse detector configurations, whichare for predetermined signal types, are not captured or analysed exceptto increment counters within the frequency bins associated with the FFTresults.

Further, the SAGE via a Universal Signal Synchronizer establishes timingsynchronization of the pulse detectors etc. to the network beingmonitored. Accordingly, signals occurring out of synchronization are notanalysed correctly such as those for example arising from anothertransmitter operating according to the same standard but on differenttime base and a transmitter on a different timing for transmissionsLikewise aperiodic frequency hopping signals would not be captured. Thisinherent timing and synchronization reflects the focus of the work ofCognio to narrowband (100 MHz) standard communications bands, such asthose relating for example to IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g and IEEE802.16e. As a result the SAGE does not actually perform real-timeanalysis of the RF spectrum in the wireless environment being monitoredas decisions are based upon the determination that events conforming topredetermined criteria have occurred which are based upon determiningpulse characteristics that may be for example 4.6 ms in GSM, 5 ms inWiMAX (IEEE 802.16) or variable in Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11).

Today multiple networks are operating simultaneously within theenvironment of a user who may for example be working at their laptopwith a Wi-Fi wireless router (e.g. 5.775 GHz U-NII-3 based IEEE 802.11)interfaced to the Internet whilst talking using a Bluetooth (unlicensed2.4 GHz) headset to a Voice-over-IP (VOIP) with their Research inMotion™ Blackberry operating at 1.9 GHz on GSM. Accordingly,interference on one device may arise from sidelobes of signalstransmitted in other bands from other devices. Accordingly, to determinesuch effects, monitor legitimate activity, identify rogue transmitters,networks etc. as discussed supra along with otherenforcement/monitoring/proactive applications it would be beneficial tocost-effectively monitor geographical areas for signal activity withinmultiple frequency bands over a wide frequency range whilst providingthe ability to do so truly in real-time such that even very shortintermittent transmitters are identified in applications that aresensitive to such signals from security, control, or prevention issuesfor example.

However, as with most RF and high speed electronics this desiredincrease in instantaneous bandwidth (IBW), real-time processing andoperating frequency range (for example 0-8 GHz) produces a dilemmabecause the operating frequency range of the RTSA is primarily relatedto RF amplifier design, filter design and semiconductor technologieswhilst the processing speed and IBW are determined through a combinationof the RF front-end, ADCs, FFT processing, etc. and hence are impactedby both analog and digital portions of the RTSA. The RTSA-likelaboratory and held-held spectrum analysers would traditionally bedesigned using custom application specific integrated circuits (ASICs)for the analog portions and high speed field programmable gate arrays(FPGAs) for the digital portion. These ASICs and FPGAs typically beingbuilt utilizing the higher performance integrated circuit (IC) designprocesses and manufacturing available. In other words, the RTSA isessentially built in and uses different processes and designs to thetransceiver circuits that broadcast the RF signals that the RTSA isdesigned to monitor. This is very different from spectrum and protocolanalysers addressing specific telecommunications standards that cantypically leverage the same ASICs and other circuit elements of devicesoperating according to those standards, such as cellphones, smartphones,PDAs, etc.

High speed FPGAs and custom ASICs are expensive and in some instancesdifficult to utilize. In high volume consumer applications such as Wi-Fi(IEEE 802.11), WiMAX (IEEE 802.16) and Bluetooth the transmittercircuits and receiver circuits are typically implemented with siliconbased digital IC designs and processes whereas the RTSA is optimizedtowards to both digital and analog aspects for high performancemeasurement applications wherein it is beneficial to leverage new ICdesign processes optimized to aspects such as faster computationalprocessing, improved serial data links, etc. as well as RF circuitintegration rather than accepting performance tradeoffs, whilst meetinga wireless specification, in order to provide monolithic integration andexploit lower cost IC processes.

It has been determined by the inventors of the present invention that ahybrid receiver architecture can be combined with digital based back endprocessing to satisfy the conflicting requirements of low-cost, highspeed, wide IBW, large operating frequency range, and high sensitivityso that they can be balanced within a field-deployable networkinterfaced module wherein deployed volumes whilst significantly largerthan laboratory based test equipment will not reach by orders ofmagnitude the volumes of the RF transmitters they are monitoring. Thisis not to say that such receivers won't find utility in other signalanalyzer applications.

Accordingly, based upon embodiments of the invention, the inventors haveestablished a low cost, broadband, real-time signal analyzer circuitthat allows for the deployment of such RTSA devices in a distributedenvironment wherein determination of policy breaches, networkperformance, regulatory compliance, etc. are locally determined andexploited directly in network management or communicated to the centralserver and network administrators for subsequent action. Beneficiallythe RTSA according to embodiments of the invention provides for ascalable architecture wherein multiple RTSA modules may be synchronizedproviding enhanced spectral bandwidth, processing speed, and monitoring.

However, it would be apparent that such a hybrid receiver providinglow-cost, high speed, wide IBW, large operating frequency range, andhigh sensitivity would have a wide range of applications including, butnot limited to, spectrum analysers, protocol receivers, frequency agilereceivers and transponders, network management, and EMC testing. Itwould further be evident that the deployment context of devicesemploying such hybrid receivers may include, but not be limited to,laboratory environments, remote stand-alone deployments, integration ordeployment with other network infrastructure, hand-held or field-testdeployments, as well as part of other civilian, Governmental andmilitary systems and platforms.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to obviate or mitigate at leastone disadvantage of the prior art.

In accordance with an embodiment of the invention there is provided amethod comprising providing a plurality of input terminals, each inputterminal receiving RF signals within a first predetermined portion of apredetermined frequency range, and providing a plurality of RFprocessing circuits connected to the plurality of input terminals, eachRF processing circuit performing a predetermined processing function ona second predetermined portion of the predetermined frequency range,wherein each of the plurality of second predetermined portions of thepredetermined frequency range comprise a first predetermined sub-set offrequencies that are the same as a second predetermined sub-set offrequencies within another one of the plurality of second predeterminedfrequency ranges.

In accordance with an embodiment of the invention there is provided adevice comprising a plurality of input terminals, each input terminalreceiving RF signals within a first predetermined portion of apredetermined frequency range, and a plurality of RF processing circuitsconnected to the plurality of input terminals, each RF processingcircuit performing a predetermined processing function on a secondpredetermined portion of the predetermined frequency range, wherein eachof the plurality of second predetermined portions of the predeterminedfrequency range comprise a first predetermined sub-set of frequenciesthat are the same as a second predetermined sub-set of frequencieswithin another one of the plurality of second predetermined frequencyranges.

In accordance with an embodiment of the invention there is provided adevice comprising a first RF circuit for receiving a RF signal within afirst predetermined frequency range and processing the received RFsignal, and a digital down converter for receiving the processed RFsignal from the first RF signal and decimating the received processed RFsignal to extract a predetermined channel from the received processed RFsignal.

In accordance with an embodiment of the invention there is provided amethod comprising providing a first RF circuit for receiving a RF signalwithin a first predetermined frequency range and processing the receivedRF signal, and providing a digital down converter circuit for receivingthe processed RF signal from the first RF signal and decimating thereceived processed RF signal to extract a predetermined channel from thereceived processed RF signal.

Other aspects and features of the present invention will become apparentto those ordinarily skilled in the art upon review of the followingdescription of specific embodiments of the invention in conjunction withthe accompanying figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way ofexample only, with reference to the attached Figures, wherein:

FIG. 1A depicts a network accessed by wireless devices;

FIG. 1B depicts a transceiver within a wireless device accessing awireless network and a classic super-heterodyne receiver according tothe prior art;

FIG. 2 depicts a spectrum analyzer according to the prior art of U.S.Pat. No. 6,714,605;

FIG. 3 depicts an example of a wireless environment with distributednetwork monitoring;

FIG. 4 depicts a geographical map of a part of downtown Torontoidentifying antennas operated by service providers;

FIG. 5 depicts a street level map of the central business district inToronto identifying antenna operated by service providers;

FIG. 6 depicts a real time spectrum analyzer according to an embodimentof the invention;

FIG. 7 depicts a RF front-end for a real time spectrum analyzeraccording to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 8 depicts an RF antenna and RF front-end processing selectorcircuit according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 9 depicts a local oscillator and distribution circuit according toan embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 10 depicts a high-RF processing circuit according to an embodimentof the invention;

FIG. 11 depicts a low-RF processing circuit according to an embodimentof the invention;

FIG. 12 depicts a very low-RF processing circuit according to anembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 13 depicts a RF front-end combiner circuit according to anembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 14 depicts a demodulator and processing circuit forming part of theRF front-end combiner circuit depicted in FIG. 13 according to anembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 15 depicts a mid-RF processing circuit according to an embodimentof the invention;

FIG. 16 depicts an RF processing circuit forming part of the RFfront-end combiner circuit depicted in FIG. 13 according to anembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 17 depicts an RF front-end circuit according to an embodiment ofthe invention;

FIG. 18 depicts a real time spectrum analyzer comprising the RFfront-end circuit of FIG. 17 in combination with a digital downconversion circuit according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 19 depicts a digital down conversion circuit according to anembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 20 depicts a digital down conversion circuit according to anembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 21 depicts a cascaded integrator comb circuit forming part of adirect down conversion circuit according to an embodiment of theinvention;

FIG. 22 depicts the interfacing of multiple real time spectrum analyzersaccording to embodiments of the invention to provide enhanced spectralmonitoring and processing.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention is directed to RF receivers and more specificallyto broadband receivers for real-time signal analysis.

FIG. 1A depicts a network 100 accessed by a plurality of wirelessdevices. The network 100 may be formed from a plurality of sub-networks,of which first and second sub-networks 110A and 110B are identified.First sub-network 110A may for example be a transport network associatedwith a service provider wherein the primary communications are providedthrough a first telecommunications standard, such as GSM for example,relating to cellular networks. Second sub-network 110B may for examplebe associated with Internet Protocol (IP) traffic according to a secondtelecommunications standard, e.g. Internet Protocol v6. Network 100 maytherefore be formed from a combination of wired and wirelessinfrastructure that provides a wireless interface for wireless devicesaccording to one or more standards. For example, first sub-network 110Abeing GSM based incorporates cellular base stations such as tower 120Aand 120B, whilst second sub-network 110B being Internet basedincorporates access points such as wall mounted MIMO antenna 130A, freestanding MIMO antenna 130B, and Internet router 130C. Accessing thenetwork 100 through this infrastructure as well as other methods notpresented are wireless devices including for example, but not limitedto, portable gaming console 140, smartphone 145, cellular phone 150,laptop computer 160, tablet PC 170, portable multimedia player 180 anddesktop PC 190.

Accordingly, network 100 may operate according to one or moretelecommunication standards including but not limited to IEEE 802.11(WLAN, Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.15 (PAN), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20(MBWA), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Global Systemfor Mobile Communications (GSM) 850, GSM 900, GSM 1800, GSM 1900,General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Industrial, Scientific and Medical(ISM) bands regulated by ITU-R 5.138, ITU-R 5.150, ITU-R 5.280, andIMT-2000 (International Mobile Telecommunications-2000). Some standardsinclude multiple internal standards such as IEEE 802.11 which includesIEEE 802.11A, IEEE 802.11B, IEEE 802.11G, and IEEE 802.11N. As such awireless device may receive signals according to multiple wirelessstandards.

Now referring to FIG. 1B there is depicted a typical transceiver 1000according to the prior art within a wireless device accessing a wirelessnetwork such as network 100 above. The transceiver 1000 comprises anantenna 105A wherein RF signals to/from the antenna 105A toreceive—transmit switch 115A are filtered by filter 110A. Consideringthe receiver side of the transceiver the received RF signal is coupledfrom the receive—transmit switch 115A to a low noise amplifier (LNA)120A, then through receive filter 125A, and first wideband gain block(WGB) 130A to downconverter 135A wherein the received RF signal is downconverted using a local signal generated by the local oscillator 155Awhich is buffered prior to the downconverter 135A by buffer 150A. Afterdown conversion to an intermediate frequency (IF) the received signal iscoupled from the downconverter 135A to second filter 125B and second WGB140A before being demodulated in I/Q demodulator 145A wherein in-phase(I) and quadrature (Q) signals are generated by a second mixing stage.

On the transmit side the signal to be transmitted is coupled as I and Qsignals to an I/Q modulator 180A wherein the combined signal is thencoupled via third WGB 140B to third filter 125C before beingup-converted by up-converter 185A. The up-converted RF signal is thencoupled via transmit filter 125D to a power amplifier 190A and thencoupled to the antenna 105A via receive—transmit switch 115A and filter110. Accordingly the operation of the transceiver 1000 is driven by aclock synchronized to the network such that the device transmits withinone timeslot and receives within another timeslot. Whilst the receivepath of the transceiver 1000 comprises filter 110A and receive filter125A any RF signals within the bandwidth of these filters is coupledthrough the RF chain and impacts the performance of the link betweenthis transceiver 1000 and another device.

The in-band interfering signals may come from in-band transmissions ofother devices operating according to the same standard as transceiver1000, regulated devices operating in adjacent frequency bands wheretransmit frequency sidelobes coincide with the passband of filter 110Aand receive filter 125, and unregulated devices in the same band oranother passband. The local oscillator 155A coupled to the downconverter135A via gain stage 160A and up-converter 185A operates in a phased lockloop with PLL 160B.

Also depicted in FIG. 1B is classic super-heterodyne receiver 1500according to the prior art. Accordingly an input signal, received from asource 1505 passes through an attenuator 1510 and a low-pass filter 1515to a mixer 1520. In mixer 1520 this filtered, attenuated signal is mixedwith a signal from a local oscillator (LO) 1555. Because the mixer is anon-linear device, its output includes not only the two originalsignals, but also their harmonics and the sums and differences of theoriginal frequencies and their harmonics. If any of the mixed signalsfall within the passband of the intermediate-frequency (IF′) filter 1535after passing through variable gain stage 1525 and another variableattenuator 1530 it is further processed, for example amplified againwith amplifier 1540, and input to an envelope detector 1545, digitizedvia ADC 1550 and displayed on display 1570. The digitized signals may befurther filtered with digital filter 1575. A ramp generator 1565generates a control signal that creates the horizontal movement acrossthe display 1570 from left to right. This ramp signal also tunes the LO1555 so that its frequency change is in proportion to the ramp signal,where the LO 1555 is driven from a reference oscillator 1560.

Referring to FIG. 2 there is depicted a spectrum analyzer according tothe prior art of Sugar et al in U.S. Pat. No. 6,714,605 entitled “Systemand Method for Real-Time Spectrum Analysis in a Communication Device.”Accordingly Sugar teaches to spectrum analyzer (SA) 2000 coupled to aradio transceiver 210 and RF interface 215. The radio transceiver 210 istaught as processing received RF signals and converting them to basebandsignals. As such radio transceiver 210 comprises essentially theelements shown within receive block 175A of FIG. 1B.

The RF interface as taught comprises an analog-to-digital converter(ADC) block, an automatic gain control (AGC) block, a direct current(DC) correction block and an amplitude/phase correction block. Sugarteaching that for a RF receiver in which the local oscillator (LO) forthe quadrature down-converter 135A is placed at the center of the bandof interest that the DC, amplitude and phase offset compensation of theI and Q signals is provided before the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) tomaximize LO and sideband suppression. The resulting baseband signals aresampled at the CLK frequency using two ADCs. The AGC block dynamicallyadjusts the gain of the receiver to optimize the placement of thesignals being converted within the dynamic range of the ADC. DCcorrection is performed adaptively by estimating the DC offset at theADC output and updating a correction DAC to remove large DC offsets. Anyresidual DC offset after course correction is removed after the ADC viadigital subtraction.

The resultant digitized output from the RF interface 215 is then coupledto spectrum analyzer (SA) 220 wherein the signal is processed through aFast-Fourier Transform (FFT), the output of which is coupled to memory230 and signal detector (SD) 225. The data coupled to the memory 230from the SA 220 being the results from the FFT that are used to updatestatistics on the wireless environment. The data coupled to the SD 225is used by a plurality of signal detector circuits to determine thepresence of pulses meeting predetermined conditions by tracking therising edge and falling edge of a signal within one of the FFT resultbins. Similarly peak detectors within the SD 225 capture the peak powerof any pulse detected. Based upon the results of the plurality of signaldetectors and peak detectors within the SD 225 information may beforwarded to a snapshot buffer (SB) 235 wherein a portion of thereceived FFT data is transferred to the memory 230.

Data from the signal detectors within the SD 225 is also coupled to auniversal signal synchronizer (USS) 265 that seeks to establish timinginformation from the plurality of detected pulses according to apredetermined standard wherein the resulting determination from the USS265 is used to synchronize the clock within the SA 2000 to the detectedpulses and thereby synchronise the SA 2000 to the network. Data from thememory 230 is transferred to a dual port RAM for transmission to amicroprocessor control unit (MCU) 250, again under clock control of theSA 2000 such that updated statistical data etc. is transmitted afterevery FFT sequence irrespective of the contents of the FFT. If the MCU250 was remote from the SA 2000 rather than co-located in the Cognioapplications disclosed supra in the listed patents and patentapplications this would place a significant overhead on thecommunications medium between the SA 2000 and MCU 250.

The USS 265 also interfaces to a medium access control (MAC) circuit 270that manages the scheduling of the packet transmissions in the frequencyband according to a MAC protocol, such as, for example IEEE 802.11protocols. Additionally MAC 270 and MCU 250 may exchange information viathe SA 2000 so that the MAC 270 may perform analysis relating to trafficstatistics whilst MCU 250 may perform background analysis to identifyanother device operating within the frequency band.

Now referring to FIG. 3 there is depicted an example of a wirelessenvironment 300 with distributed network monitoring. Accordingly withinthe wireless environment 300 there are multiple wireless devices, forexample smartphones 310, laptop computers 330, cellphones 340 anddesktop PCs 370 that are operating upon multiple networks. For example,smartphones 310 and cellphones 340 are accessing the local cellularnetwork operating according to a GSM standard based upon the geographiclocation of the wireless environment through cellular towers (not shownfor clarity), laptop computers 330 and desktop PCs 370 are accessingWi-Fi and WiMAX networks through Wi-Fi routers 320 and WiMAX antennas350 that are distributed within the building forming the physicalstructure of the wireless environment 300. Additionally, some laptopcomputers 330 may be accessing both Wi-Fi routers 320 and WiMAX antennas350 by virtue of having dual transceivers installed within them.Similarly some smartphones 310 may be accessing Wi-Fi routers 320 byvirtue of being Wi-Fi enabled, examples today including Apple iPhone 3G,Blackberry Curve 8900, HTC Ozone, and Nokia N97.

A subset of these devices may also be using Bluetooth or equivalent toprovide users with hands free headphones, wireless memory access, etc.The result of which being that within the small wireless environmentthere are devices operating according to IEEE 802.11, IEEE 802.16, IEEE802.15 and GSM. Further, as GSM devices may be globally roaming a GSMdevice may in incorrectly set when initially turned on in such awireless environment 300. For example, a cellphone accessing a networkin the United Kingdom at 1800 MHz through the standard GSM 900/1800networks may be now turned on in an area of Canada supporting 3G at 1700MHz alongside GSM 850/1900 but where the 1800 MHz spectrum has beenreserved by Industry Canada to the integrity of the electrical gridinfrastructure through improved monitoring and control.

Deployed within the wireless environment 300 are RTSA devices 360 thatprovide for example real time monitoring over a 0-8 GHz spectrumallowing coverage of not only GSM 850/1900 but also the IEEE 802.11,IEEE 802.16, and IEEE 802.15 bands. Accordingly the standard operationof the devices within the wireless environment 300 is monitored as wellas the unauthorized operation of a cellphone at 1800 MHz It would beevident that the RTSA devices 360 may be associated with differententities including for example the building supporting the physicalinfrastructure of the wireless environment 300, an owner or tenant ofthat particular physical infrastructure, and a provider of a network(s)supporting one or more standards as identified. It would also be evidentthat according to the physical and wireless environment that the densityof RTSA devices 360 and their operating frequency ranges may be adjustedaccording to predetermined rules or adjusted according to a variety offactors including but not limited to traffic patterns, device density,and occurrences of interrupted/disrupted service.

For example referring to FIG. 4 there is depicted a geographical map 400of a part of downtown Toronto identifying antennas operated by GSMservice providers. The approximately 3 km by 2 km downtown regioncomprises approximately 200 GSM cell towers 410 representingapproximately 2,000 antenna elements. The number of antenna associatedwith each cell tower 410 varying from a lower limit of 4 through to anupper limit of 48. Referring to FIG. 5 this region is focused furtherwith a street level map 500 of the central business district in Torontoidentifying antenna operated by GSM service providers wherein the numberof antenna elements at each GSM tower is denoted by those with 10 ormore antenna with rectangles 4100A and those with less than 10 withcircles 4100B. The GSM service providers include Rogers, Bell, Telus,Wind, and Videotron.

In the block 5000 defined by King St W, Wellington St W, York St and BaySt there is the Toronto Dominion Centre anchored by the headquarters ofone of the top 5 banks in Canada representing over 90% of assets. Withinor at the edge of the block are three cell towers, two rectangles 5100Aand two circles 5100B representing 40 GSM antenna elements. However, theblock contains 6 skyscrapers representing over 200 floors of businessesand accordingly many thousands of cellular telephones, smartphones,multimedia players, laptop computers etc. interfacing to wirelessnetworks within these skyscrapers operating on a plurality of networksaccording to multiple standards with significant potential forinterference as well as rogue transmitters, etc. resulting in degradedcommunications, loss of critical data or communications, espionage,fraud, etc.

Now referring to FIG. 6A there is depicted a real time spectrum analyzer(RTSA) 600 according to an embodiment of the invention. Spectrum 610depicts the regulated wireless environment between 300 MHz and 3 GHz(upper) and 3 GHz to 30 GHz (lower) (US Department of Commerce, NationalTelecommunications and Information Administration). This RF spectrum isreceived by an RF front end 620 wherein it is processed to generatein-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) baseband signals and converted todigital format. For example the RF front end 620 may operate from 0.1MHz to 8 GHz with a resolution bandwidth of 10 kHz providingperformance, sensitivity and spurious free dynamic range comparable tohigh end laboratory spectrum analyzers. The digitization of thedownconverted RF signals provided to the FFT 625 and Digital DownConversion (DDC) 665 being at 125 MSPS with 12-bit accuracy. Thedigitized baseband signals are coupled to both the FFT 625 and DDC 665so as to allow real-time execution of both a Fast Fourier Transform(FFT) with a hardware based real-time FFT for extraction of frequencydomain information and the real-time down conversion and decimation ofthe signal to extract channel data and/or characteristics.

The RF front end 620 provides for example a 100 MHz wide instantaneousbandwidth allowing the RTSA 600 to monitor entire communication bands atonce whilst the center frequency of instantaneous bandwidth may be movedto scan the spectrum at a rate of more than 200 GHz per second such thatthe 8 GHz bandwidth of the RF front-end 620 may be scanned every 40 ms.This rate allowing for both the settling time at each frequency step anda dwell time that allows for more than 25,000 samples to be taken ateach step. The scanning of the RTSA 600 being controlled through a userdefined automatic scan list that allows each RTSA to be configured toscan a list of up to 1024 center frequencies thereby enabling scans ofthe entire spectrum, or specific frequencies, or where ever and how everthe user wants. Further for each center frequency, the user may alsodefine other RTSA 600 settings including but not limited to antennaselection (where multiple antennas are available), gain election for theRF front end 620, dwell time, averaging, DDC and channelizationparameters, mask trigger, signal triggers, and alarm conditions.

The down-converted and decimated signal, channelized signal, from theDDC 665 block is then coupled to a high speed memory 675 for storagewherein it may be subsequently discarded, processed further, ortransmitted from the RTSA 600 to a remote management server foranalysis. The output of the FFT 625 is forwarded to an averaging circuit630 wherein the data is then forwarded to two paths of processing. Thefirst path being a sophisticated and efficient signal triggeringmechanism for capturing and discerning signals-of-interest (SOIs) inreal-time through mask trigger 635, signal trigger 640, and alarm/report645 circuits wherein the alarms and reports are stored within the highspeed memory 675.

The signal triggers, feature extraction and alarm functions are allimplemented relative to the mask triggers. Within RTSA 600 there is aunique user-definable mask trigger for each of 1024 user-defined centerfrequencies within the scan list, although optionally multiple masktriggers could be associated with each centre frequency. Further foreach of the 1024 user-defined center frequencies within the scan listthere are eight signal triggers per center frequency, providing morethan 8000 user-definable triggers across the spectrum. As with the masktrigger the number of signal triggers may be varied. Each signal triggerperforms an energy detection relative to the mask trigger allowing eachindividual signal trigger to define an expected signal frequency andbandwidth such that precise thresholds pertaining to signal rise, fall,bandwidth and power can be established thereby eliminating falsenegative triggers due to noise.

The second path from the averaging 640 is feature extraction 640 whereinfeatures are extracted on signals that exceed a mask trigger. Forexample feature extraction 640 may note frequency, bandwidth, peakamplitude and the RMS power of the signal. Further, in order to avoidfalse signal detections due to noise, the feature extraction 640 onlyrecognizes a signal if the signal exceeds a user-defined threshold ofRMS power. If the transitions of a capture signal correlate with the anyof the user-defined signal triggers then an association with that signaltrigger is noted. If there is no correlation to any signal trigger thenan “unknown” signal trigger is noted. The unknown signal trigger is forthe purpose capturing and discerning anomalies.

The alarm/report 645 provides a memory and network efficient means ofacting and reporting upon SOIs as they raised upon the capture ofsignals whether those signals are associated with signal triggers or areunknown. The alarms provide the ability to record different attributesof SOIs to memory, for example high speed memory 675, that may includethe associated IQ data and/or request user-defined actions by theembedded software such as subsequent post-processing or transfer of datato a remote network server.

RTSA 600 receives control data and provides data with multiple protocolsallowing flexibility in communications for remote deployments as well asthose associated with network infrastructure for example. As depictedthese are Standard Commands for Programmable Instruments (SCPI) is anASCII textual standard command set for controlling instrumentationwherein High-Speed LAN Instrument Protocol (HiSLIP) is one versionallowing communications over TCP/IP. Also supported is VITA 49 RadioTransport (VRT) protocol for high speed as we as Gigabit Ethernet (GiGE)and Universal Serial Bus (USB). The being provided by SCPI-HiSLIP 680,VRT 685 and GiGE/USB 690 communications blocks.

The RTSA 600 also supports transmitter geo-location by providing forexample clock synchronization; time synchronization of networked RTSAsintegrated GPS (GPS 670B), VRT time synchronization; accuratetime-stamping (temporal reference 670A); and accurate received signalstrength indicator (RSSI). Further as depicted RTSA 600 incorporates aMicro Blaze 650, which is a soft processor core implemented entirely inthe general-purpose memory and logic fabric of FPGAs, and operates usingsoftware and Linux operating system hosted in SW & Linux OS 655. TheRTSA 600 through the interfaces provides data to external applicationssuch as Signals Intelligence Applications 695 which may include signalpost-processing, demodulation and geo-location on the server-sidethrough proprietary and/or third-party applications such as MATLAB, GNURadio and AirPatrol's Wireless Intelligence.

Within the embodiments of the invention described in FIG. 6A through theelements of any embodiment of the invention may be implemented byhardware, firmware, software or any combination thereof. The termhardware generally refers to an element having a physical structure suchas electronic, electromagnetic, optical, electro-optical, mechanical,electro-mechanical parts, etc. The term software generally refers to alogical structure, a method, a procedure, a program, a routine, aprocess, an algorithm, a formula, a function, an expression, etc. Theterm firmware generally refers to a logical structure, a method, aprocedure, a program, a routine, a process, an algorithm, a formula, afunction, an expression, etc. that is implemented or embodied in ahardware structure (e.g., flash memory, ROM, EROM). Examples of firmwaremay include microcode, writable control store, micro-programmedstructure.

When implemented in software or firmware, the elements of an embodimentof the present invention are essentially the code segments to performthe necessary tasks. The software/firmware may include the actual codeto carry out the operations described in one embodiment of theinvention, or code that emulates or simulates the operations. Theprogram or code segments can be stored in a processor or machineaccessible medium or transmitted by a computer data signal embodied in acarrier wave, or a signal modulated by a carrier, over a transmissionmedium. The “processor readable or accessible medium” or “machinereadable or accessible medium” may include any medium that can store,transmit, or transfer information.

Examples of the processor readable or machine accessible medium includebut are not limited to an electronic circuit, a semiconductor memorydevice, a read only memory (ROM), a flash memory, an erasable ROM(EROM), a floppy diskette, a compact disk (CD) ROM, an optical disk, anda hard disk. The code segments may be downloaded via computer networkssuch as the Internet, Intranet, etc. The machine accessible medium maybe embodied in an article of manufacture. The machine accessible mediummay include data that, when accessed by a machine, cause the machine toperform the operations described in the following. The machineaccessible medium may also include program code embedded therein. Theprogram code may include machine readable code to perform the operationsdescribed in the following. The term “data” here refers to any type ofinformation that is encoded for machine-readable purposes. Therefore, itmay include program, code, data, file, etc.

Any hardware, software, or firmware element may have several modulescoupled to one another. A hardware module is coupled to another moduleby mechanical, electrical, optical, electromagnetic or any physicalconnections. A software module is coupled to another module by afunction, procedure, method, subprogram, or subroutine call, a jump, alink, a parameter, variable, and argument passing, a function return,etc. A software module is coupled to another module to receivevariables, parameters, arguments, pointers, etc. and/or to generate orpass results, updated variables, pointers, etc. A firmware module iscoupled to another module by any combination of hardware and softwarecoupling methods above. A hardware, software, or firmware module may becoupled to any one of another hardware, software, or firmware module. Amodule may also be a software driver or interface to interact with theoperating system running on the platform. A module may also be ahardware driver to configure, set up, initialize, send and receive datato and from a hardware device. An apparatus may include any combinationof hardware, software, and firmware modules.

When an embodiment of the invention may be described as a process it isusually depicted as a flowchart, a flow diagram, a structure diagram, ora block diagram. Although a flowchart may describe the operations as asequential process, many of the operations can be performed in parallelor concurrently. In addition, the order of the operations may bere-arranged. A process is terminated when its operations are completed.A process may correspond to a method, a program, a procedure, a methodof manufacturing or fabrication, etc.

When the methodologies described herein are, in one or more embodiments,performable by a machine such a machine may include one or moreprocessors that accept code segments containing instructions. For any ofthe methods described herein, when the instructions are executed by themachine, the machine performs the method. Any machine capable ofexecuting a set of instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specifyactions to be taken by that machine are included. Thus, a typicalmachine may be exemplified by a typical processing system that includesone or more processors. Each processor may include one or more of a CPU,a graphics-processing unit, and a programmable DSP unit. The processingsystem further may include a memory subsystem including main RAM and/ora static RAM, and/or ROM. A bus subsystem may be included forcommunicating between the components. If the processing system requiresa display, such a display may be included, e.g., a liquid crystaldisplay (LCD). If manual data entry is required, the processing systemalso includes an input device such as one or more of an alphanumericinput unit such as a keyboard, a pointing control device such as amouse, and so forth.

The term memory as used herein refers to any non-transitory tangiblecomputer storage medium. The memory includes machine-readable codesegments (e.g. software) including instructions for performing, whenexecuted by the processing system, one of more of the methods describedherein. The software may reside entirely in the memory, or may alsoreside, completely or at least partially, within the RAM and/or withinthe processor during execution thereof by the computer system. Thus, thememory and the processor also constitute a system comprisingmachine-readable code.

In alternative embodiments, the machine operates as a standalone deviceor may be connected, e.g., networked to other machines, in a networkeddeployment, the machine may operate in the capacity of a server or aclient machine in server-client network environment, or as a peermachine in a peer-to-peer or distributed network environment. The term“machine” may also be taken to include any collection of machines thatindividually or jointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructionsto perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein.

When an embodiment of the invention may be described in terms of anelectronic circuit, such electronic circuit generally refers to anelement having a physical structure such as a semiconductor device, anintegrated circuit, a hybrid circuit, an analog circuit, a digitalcircuit, and a mixed signal circuit but it may refer to a replacement ofa physical circuit with processing performed using digital signalprocessing controlled through one or more microprocessors. Suchelectronic circuit may be implemented in one or more semiconductortechnologies, including for example silicon, germanium, silicongermanium, indium phosphide and gallium arsenide.

Referring to FIG. 6B, it is required to process signals from a lowerfrequency limit f_(LOW)=0.10 MHz to an upper frequency limitf_(HIGH)=8.0 GHz as represented by spectrum 6000. This is accomplishedaccording to an embodiment of the invention by splitting the spectrum6000 into four overlapping regions 6100A from f₀→f₁, 6200A from f₂→f₃,6300A from f₄→f₅, and 6400A from f₆→f₇. For purposes of processing thesesignals each region of spectrum 6000 is processed as indicated in FIG.6B using a combination of receiver architectures. The maximum frequencyf₁ within f₀→f₁ is specified to be less than half the sampling rate ofthe ADCs digitizing the process signals and therefore may be directlydigitized without any frequency conversion using Direct Digitizer 6100B.Any frequency range that lies within f₄→f₅ is processed using a DirectConversion receiver 6300B. In other words there is only one localoscillator used in the conversion process and its frequency is the sameas the center frequency of the desired band. Any frequency range thatlies within the block of frequencies f₂→f₃ and f₆→f₇ is converted usingthe super-heterodyne technique using Super-Heterodyne A 6200B andSuper-Heterodyne B 6400B to an intermediate frequency (IF) that lieswithin the frequency range f₄→f₅ of the Direct Conversion receiver6300B. In these two scenarios at least two local oscillators are activeat any given time.

The overall receiver architecture is therefore a hybrid ofdirect-conversion and super-heterodyne receiver technologies togetherwith direct digitization of the lowest frequency band having an upperfrequency limit that does not exceed half the sampling rate of the ADCs.The direct-conversion receiver (DCR) acts as a back-end for all but thedirectly digitized range of frequencies f₀→f₁. It is also able toprocess the range of frequencies f₄→f₅ where the quadrature demodulatoris generally a limiting factor that cannot process signals outside ofthis range. The super-heterodyne receiver stages, Super-Heterodyne A6200B and Super-Heterodyne B 6400B, up- and down-convert RF signalsoutside of the range of frequencies covered by the DCR respectively, tofrequency ranges that can be processed by the DCR. Accordingly, theapproach provides the benefits of direct-conversion receivers, such aswide IBW, monolithic integration, etc. but extends their frequency rangeusing super-heterodyne techniques to provide greater RF coverage. Anexample of this is provided below in respect of FIGS. 7 through 18.

Now referring to FIG. 7 there is depicted a RF front-end 700 for a RTSA7000 according to an embodiment of the invention. RTSA 7000 having asimilar structure as that described supra in respect of FIG. 6A from RFfront-end 700 through to network interfaces with real-time signalcapture, triggering, FFT etc. RTSA 7000 being a field deployable deviceapproximately 230×165×55 mm with SMA connectors for antenna inputs.Optionally the RTSA 7000 may have a single or multiple antenna inputsaccording to the design of the RF front end 700. As shown a plurality ofRF inputs 700A are coupled to an RF selector 710 that is coupled to HighRF Processing Block 730, Mid RF Processing Block 740, Low RF ProcessingBlock 750, and Very Low RF Processing Block 760. Accordingly the RFSelector 710 dynamically manages the connections between the RF inputs700A and the multiple RF processing blocks that are allocated tofrequency ranges within the overall 0.10 MHz to 8 GHz frequency rangesupported by the RTSA 7000 through the design of the RF front-end 700.Each of High RF Processing Block 730 and Low RF Processing Block 750 areshown coupled to Local Oscillator (LO) 720.

The processed signals from the High RF Processing Block 730, Mid RFprocessing block 750, and Low RF Processing Block 740 are coupled toselector 780C wherein they are coupled to quadrature demodulator block780A and then baseband processor block 780B, the output of which iscoupled to output 700C that feeds the FFT and Digital Down Conversion790 portions of the RTSA 7000. The processed signal from Very Low RFProcessing Block 760 is coupled directly to Baseband Processor Block780B and thence to output 700C. In the discussions with respect to anRTSA operating 0.10 MHz to 8 GHz reference in FIGS. 8 through 17 will bemade to characteristics of elements of the RF front end 720 which areexamples of those for such an RTSA.

High RF processing block 730 processes an RF input signal over a rangeof frequencies by filtering, amplifying and/or attenuating it in stagesand converting the center frequency of the signals under observationusing at least one mixer to an intermediate frequency (IF). SimilarlyLow RF processing block 740 processes an RF input signal over a range offrequencies by filtering, amplifying and/or attenuating it in stages andconverting the center frequency of the signals under observation usingat least one mixer to an IF. Signals from processing blocks 730 or 740are switched into the quadrature demodulator block 780 to be processedas a direct-conversion receiver would with an input signal centered atthe IF frequency. Mid RF processing block 750 processes an RF signalover a range of frequencies by filtering, amplifying and/or attenuatingit in stages. It should be noted that according to the embodiment of theinvention described below in respect of FIGS. 8 through 18 only one RFprocessing block is active at any given time. However, it would beevident to one skilled in the art that other configurations would bepossible including but not limited to, multiple RF processing blocks maybe active through the addition of a switching stage between the RF frontend 700 and subsequent FFT and Direct Digital Conversion 790 portions,having the FFT and Digital Down Conversion 790 portions activesimultaneously on different/same RF processing blocks or block, andproviding multiple FFT or Digital Down Conversion 790 portions coupledto different RF process blocks simultaneously.

Considering RTSA 7000 operating for RF signals between 0.10 MHz and 8GHz frequency ranges for the processing circuits may for example be 3.0GHz-8.0 GHz, 400 MHz-4.4 GHz, 40-1000 MHz and 0.1-50 MHz respectivelyfor the High RF Processing Block 730, Mid RF Processing Block 740, LowRF Processing Block 750, and Very Low RF Processing Block 760.

It would be evident to one skilled in the art from the description ofRTSA 600 above in respect of FIG. 6 that the 1024 user-defined centerfrequencies within the scan list may be processed by the RTSAsoftware/firmware to a consolidated series of control settings for theRF front end 700. Further as each center frequency has associated withit user defined settings including but not limited to antenna selection,gain setting and dwell time then there would be a plurality of controlsignals to the RF front end 700. These have been omitted for clarity.The number of RF processing blocks employed together with their designconfiguration, performance, bandwidth, etc. may, it would evident to oneskilled in the art, be varied according to the particular deploymentscenario(s) and requirements.

Referring to FIG. 8 there is depicted a RF antenna and RF front-endprocessing selector circuit 800 according to an embodiment of theinvention, such as depicted by RF selector 710 in FIG. 7. Accordingly,first to third antennas 810 to 830 respectively are depicted coupled toa 4:1 switch 850 along with reference 840. Reference 840 in thisembodiment being a test port through which a calibration signal may beapplied to the RF front end circuit and processed by the RTSA allowingcalibration of the RTSA and/or periodic verification. First to thirdantenna 810 to 830 may provide coverage of the full 0.1 MHz to 8 GHzfrequency range of an RTSA within which the RF antenna and RF front-endprocessing selector circuit 800 is operating or provide different bandsaccording to the deployment scenario of the RTSA. The output of 4:1switch 850 is coupled via DC block 860 to 1:4 switch 870 having first tofourth outputs 880A through 880D which where the RF front end 700 isbeing implemented means that these outputs are connected to High RFProcessing Block 730, Mid RF Processing Block 740, Low RF ProcessingBlock 750, and Very Low RF Processing Block 760. First to third antennas810 to 830 respectively for an RTSA 7000 operating 0.10 MHz to 8 GHz maybe operable at 0.10 MHz to 800 MHz, 400 MHz to 4 GHz, and 2 GHz to 8 GHzrespectively according to an embodiment. Alternatively antennas may haveidentical frequency coverage but with different directionalcharacteristics.

Referring to FIG. 9 there is depicted a local oscillator (LO) circuit900 according to an embodiment of the invention, LO circuit 900 being animplementation of LO circuit 720 in FIG. 7 for the RF front end 700within RTSA 7000. As depicted an oscillator 920 provides two outputs atfirst and second ports 910A and 910B respectively at a frequencydetermined from a digital control circuit 990, for example between 1.0GHz and 4.5 GHz. Second port 910B is coupled via first passband filter980 to a second oscillator output port 900B which as depicted in FIG. 7is coupled to Low RF Processing Block 740. First output port 910A issimilarly coupled to a second passband filter 925 and thence toamplifier 930, frequency multiplier 935, first attenuator 940, highpassfilter 945, 3 dB attenuator 960 and then amplifier cascade comprisingfirst and second LNAs 960 and 970 respectively. Accordingly at firstoscillator output port 900A a frequency multiplied and amplified outputof the oscillator 920 is provided, according to FIG. 7, to the High RFProcessing Block 730.

Within the discussions for an RTSA operating over 0.10 MHz to 8 GHz theoutput from first oscillator output port 900A may for example be set torange from 4 GHz to 9 GHz Within the above embodiment first and secondpassband filters 980, 925, and highpass filter 945 are shown as fixed.However, according to the operating frequency range of the RTSA andaccordingly first and second output ports 900A and 900B respectively andexisting tunable filter technologies these may be replaced with tunablefilters which would be coupled to digital control circuit 990 allowingtheir centre frequency, as well as other characteristics including butlimited to bandwidth, to be adjusted in dependence upon the intendedsetting for LO circuit 900. With tunable filter technology enhancementsthe applicable operating frequency range for these tunable filters willevolve thereby allowing evolution of the LO circuit 900 accordingly.

Now referring to FIG. 10 there is depicted a high RF processing circuit1000 according to an embodiment of the invention, such as High RFProcessing Block 730 which forms part of RF front end 700 within RTSA7000. Accordingly high RF processing circuit 1000 receives at an inputport 1000A a signal, for example the RF signals coupled from first port880A of RF antenna and RF front-end processing selector circuit 800,which is then coupled to a filter bank 1010. The output of filter bank1010 is sequentially coupled to first gain block 1020 and second gainblock 1030 before being coupled to mixer 1040. The mixer 1040 receivingalso a signal from port 1000B such that the output from the mixer 1040is a down-converted spectrum of the RF signals coupled to the input port1000A. As depicted in FIG. 7 for RF front end 700 the port 1000B wouldbe coupled to the LO circuit 720, for example as depicted in FIG. 9 tooutput 900A of LO circuit 900.

The down-converted signal from the mixer 1040 is then coupled via anattenuator 1050 to a switched first intermediate frequency (IF) filterbank comprising first and second 1:2 switches 1060A and 1060Brespectively that select either a first path with first filter 1080 orsecond path with second filter 1090. Within the embodiment of an RTSAoperating 0.10 MHz to 8 GHz with 4 GHz to 9 GHz local oscillator appliedto the mixer 1040 first filter 1080 may for example be a 1300 MHz SAWfilter and second filter a 2300 MHz SAW filter. The resulting filtereddown-converted signal is then coupled to output 1000C of the high RFprocessing circuit 1000.

Referring to FIG. 11 there is depicted a low RF processing circuit 1100according to an embodiment of the invention, such as Low RF ProcessingBlock 740 which forms part of RF front end 700 within RTSA 7000.Accordingly low RF processing circuit 1100 receives at an input port1100A a signal, for example the RF signals coupled from third port 880Cof RF antenna and RF front-end processing selector circuit 800 in FIG.8, which is initially filtered by filter bank 1110 prior to beingcoupled to cascaded first and second gain stages 1120 and 1130. Theresulting filtered and amplified signal is then coupled to mixer 1140together with a local oscillator signal coupled to the low RF processingcircuit 1100 via oscillator port 1100B. The resulting up convertedsignal being coupled to output 1100C. The local oscillator signalcoupled to oscillator port 1100B being coupled from the secondoscillator output port 900B of local oscillator circuit 900 and withinthe frequency range 1300 MHz to 2300 MHz. The output signal from themixer 1140 is then coupled via an attenuator 1150 to a switched firstintermediate frequency (IF) filter bank comprising first and second 1:2switches 1160A and 1160B respectively that select either a first pathwith first filter 1180 or second path with second filter 1190.

Now referring to FIG. 12 there is depicted a very low RF processingcircuit 1200 according to an embodiment of the invention, such as VeryLow RF Processing Block 760 which forms part of RF front end 700 withinRTSA 7000. Accordingly very low RF processing circuit 1200 receives atan input port 1200A a signal, which is initially filtered by low passfilter 1210. The signals at input port 1200A for example being forexample the RF signals coupled from fourth port 880D of RF antenna andRF front-end processing selector circuit 800 in FIG. 8 for Very Low RFProcessing Block 760 in FIG. 7. The filtered signal is coupled toamplifier cascade 1220 and 1240, the output of 1240 is then coupled to atransformer 1250 which provides dual differential outputs 1200B and1200C respectively.

Now referring to FIG. 13 there is depicted an RF combiner circuit 1300according to an embodiment of the invention such as 780 in FIG. 7comprising switch 780C, quadrature demodulator 780A, and basebandprocessor 780B. Accordingly a RF combiner circuit 1300 is depicted withfirst, second and third input ports 1300A 1300B and 1300C respectively,coupled to a 3:1 switch 1320 selecting one of these input ports andcoupling the associated signals to quadrature demodulator block 1330,described in more detail in FIG. 14 below, wherein the outputs from thequadrature demodulator 1330 are then coupled to a quad 2:1 switch array1340 which couples to baseband processing circuit 1350, described inmore detail in FIG. 16 below. Processing circuit 1350 generating aprocessed signal that is coupled to output 1300D, which by reference toFIG. 16 which presents an embodiment of the processing circuit 1350,namely baseband processing circuit 1600, the output 1300D is the outputof the ADCs 1695A and 1695B.

First, second and third input ports 1300A, 1300B and 1300C being coupledto the output of High RF Processing Block 730, such as depicted by highRF processing circuit 1000 in FIG. 10, Mid RF Processing Block 740, suchas depicted by mid RF processing circuit 1500 in FIG. 15, and Low RFProcessing Block 750 such as depicted by low RF processing circuit 1100in FIG. 11. The quadrature output signals (I+, I−, Q+ and Q−) fromquadrature demodulator block 1330 are coupled to four 2:1 multiplexers1340A through 1340D respectively. The other ports of 2:1 multiplexer1340A and 1340B are coupled to processing circuit 1360 which in theexemplary RF front end 700 of RTSA 7000 would be Very Low RF ProcessingBlock 760, such as depicted by very low RF processing circuit 1200. Theother port of 2:1 multiplexers 1340C and 1340D are connected to ground.Optionally, these ports may be coupled to another RF processing block.Accordingly RF combiner circuit 1300 dynamically selects one of theprocessing circuits within the RF front end, such as RF front end 700 inRTSA 7000. The processing circuit to be selected being determined independence of the current active user-defined center frequency.

Referring to FIG. 14 there is depicted quadrature demodulator block 1430and gain/attenuation block 1410 in processing circuit 1400 forming partof the circuit 1300 depicted in FIG. 13 according to an embodiment ofthe invention. Quadrature demodulator and processing circuits 1410, 1420and 1430 being equivalent to processing block 1330 in FIG. 13.Accordingly quadrature demodulator and processing circuit 1400 comprisesan input port 1400A receiving the signals selected by the preceding 3:1switch 1320 in circuit 1300. The received signal at input port 1400A iscoupled to a gain block 1410 and then to balun 1420, the outputs ofwhich are coupled to quadrature demodulator 1430 that provides fouroutputs (I+, I−, Q+ and Q−), each output coupled to a different 2:1multiplexer in a quad 2:1 multiplexer array 1440. Quadrature demodulator1440 includes a phase locked loop (PLL) which receives local oscillator(LO) signals from local oscillator 1450.

The second port of the first two 2:1 multiplexers in quad 2:1multiplexer array 1440 being coupled to first and second LF ports 1400Hand 14001 respectively, which within RF front end 700 of RTSA 7000 areconnected to the dual output ports 1200B and 1200C of Very Low RFProcessing Block 1200. The second port of the second pair of 2:1multiplexers in quad 2:1 multiplexer array 1440 being connected toground but optionally may be coupled to the dual output ports of anotherRF processing block. Quad 2:1 multiplexer array 1440 being controlledvia a Mid_Verylow_Select control coupled to the quadrature demodulatorand processing circuit 1400 via control port 1400L. The outputs from thefirst and second 2:1 multiplexers within quad 2:1 multiplexer array 1440are coupled to first differential amplifier 1450A and thence to firstand second output ports 1400B and 1400C respectively. The outputs fromthe third and fourth 2:1 multiplexers within quad 2:1 multiplexer array1440 are coupled to second differential amplifier 1450B and thence tothird and fourth output ports 1400D and 1400E respectively.

Referring to FIG. 15 there is depicted a mid-RF processing circuit 1500according to an embodiment of the invention such as Mid RF ProcessingBlock 750 in RF front end 700 of RTSA 7000 in FIG. 7. Accordingly asignal coupled to the input port 1500A is coupled to filter bank 1510and then amplifier cascade comprising first and second amplifiers 1520and 1530 respectively to the output port 1500B. Within the RF front end700 the input port 1500A would be coupled to the second output port 880Bof the RF antenna and RF front-end processing selector circuit 800, andthe output port 1500B would be coupled to the 3:1 switch 1320 in circuit1300 in FIG. 13.

Referring to FIG. 16 there is depicted a baseband processing circuit1600 forming part of the circuit 1300 depicted in FIG. 13 according toan embodiment of the invention. Baseband processing circuit 1600implements processing circuit 1350 according to an embodiment of theinvention and comprises first and second identical baseband processorcircuits 16100 and 16200 respectively coupled differentially through aseries of gain, variable or fixed, and/or attenuation stages, variableor fixed, to digitizer circuit 1690 consisting of two ADCs 1695A and1695B. RF processor circuit 16100 comprises input ports 1600A coupled tofirst 1:2 switches 1610 that selects either low pass filter 1620A or lowpass filter 1620B.

Post filtered signals are then coupled via back-to-back 1:2 switches1630 and 1635 to either a T-network attenuator or no gain. The output ofthis stage is coupled via 2:1 switch to a baseband variable gainamplifier 1660. Differential outputs from 1660 are coupled through aresistor network to an operational amplifier and then toanalog-to-digital converter 1695A.

Now referring to FIG. 17 there is depicted an RF front-end circuit 1700according to an embodiment of the invention employing the circuitelements described supra in respect of FIG. 8 through 16. Accordinglythere are depicted the following circuits:

-   -   RF selector circuit 1710 as described in FIG. 8 with respect to        RF antenna and RF front-end processing selector circuit 800        providing the functionality of RF selector 710 in FIG. 7;    -   a local oscillator (LO) circuit 1720 as described in FIG. 9 with        respect to LO circuit 900 providing the functionality of LO        circuit 720 in FIG. 7;    -   high RF circuit 1730 as described in FIG. 10 with respect to        high RF processing circuit 1000 providing the functionality of        High RF Processing Block 730 and operating 3.0 GHz-8.0 GHz and        fed from RF selector circuit 1710;    -   mid RF circuit 1740 as described in FIG. 11 with respect to mid        RF processing circuit 1100 providing the functionality of Mid RF        Processing Block 740 and operating 400 MHz-4400 MHz and fed from        RF selector circuit 1710;    -   low RF circuit 1750 as described in FIG. 15 with respect to        mid-RF processing circuit 1500 providing the functionality of        Low RF Processing Block 750 and operating 40-1000 MHz and fed        from RF selector circuit 1710;    -   very low RF circuit A 1760 as described in FIG. 12 with respect        to very low RF processing circuit 1200 providing the        functionality of Very Low RF Processing Block 1760 and operating        0.1-50 MHz and fed from RF selector circuit 1710 and    -   quadrature demodulator circuit 1790 comprising demodulator        circuit 1790A as described in FIG. 14 with respect to quadrature        demodulator and processing circuit 1400 providing the        functionality of Demod 780A and amplified filter multiplexer        circuit 790B as described in FIG. 16 with respect to RF        processing circuit 1600.

Quadrature demodulator circuit 1790 receives the processed RF signalsfrom high RF circuit 1730, mid RF circuit 1740, low RF circuit 1750,very low RF circuit 1760 and provides digital outputs 1700B and 1700Crepresenting the analog input signals of interest to subsequent digitalprocessing circuits, such as FFT 665 and Digital Down Conversion 665depicted in FIG. 6A with respect to RTSA 600. These 8 circuits, or 9 ifcount the two circuit sections of quadrature demodulator circuit 1790,provide according to an embodiment of the invention a RF receiver for aRTSA such as RF front-end 700 for RTSA 7000 or RF front end 620 for RTSA600 as described above in respect of FIGS. 7 and 6 respectively.

Referring to FIG. 18 there is depicted a RTSA 1800 comprising an RFfront-end 1810, such as RF front-end circuit 1700 of FIG. 17 wherein theprocessed and digitized baseband signals processed by the RF front-endcircuit 1810 are coupled to a FFT block 1890 and a digital downconversion (DDC) block 1820 according to an embodiment of the invention.Digitized signals are input to two complex multipliers in block 1840which also receives inputs from complex oscillators block 1850. Theresulting down-converted output from complex multiplier 1840 is coupledvia low pass filters in block 1860 to decimators in block 1870 whereinthe decimated down-converted digital signal data is coupled to faststorage 1880 comprising digital memory allowing the signal data to bestored for subsequent processing by the RTSA 1800 or transmission fromthe RTSA 1800 to a remote server.

Referring to FIG. 19 there is depicted a digital down conversion circuit(DDC) 1900 according to an embodiment of the invention for implementingthe DDC feature such as presented above in respect of DDC block 1820,DDC 665 and DDC 790 in FIGS. 18, 6, and 7 respectively. As shown adifferential input is received at input 1900A and amplified byfully-differential amplifier 1910 before being down-converted with firstand second complex mixers 1920A and 1920B that are fed from complexoscillator 1975 at 0° and 90° respectively. The complex oscillator 1975being controlled through a phase locked loop (PLL) 1970. The PLL 1970driven by clock 1980 which is controlled by a processor in memory andprocessor block 1960.

The down-converted signals from the first and second complex mixers1920A and 1920B are coupled to first and second low pass filters 1930Aand 1930B before being coupled to first and second gain blocks 1940A and1940B respectively. These differential amplifier outputs are coupled tofirst and second decimators 1950A and 1950B respectively, the outputs ofwhich are forwarded to the memory and processor block 1960. The firstand second decimators 1950A and 1950B execute a decimation process, thisbeing a reduction in the number of samples of the discrete-time signalsgenerated from the complex mixers that have been amplified and low-passfiltered. Decimation being implemented as part of a two-step processcomprising a low-pass anti-aliasing filter and downsampling.

Referring to FIG. 20 there is depicted a DDC 2000 according to anembodiment of the invention capable of being implemented in a FieldProgrammable Gate Array (FPGA) circuit. The first stage of the DDC 2000uses a digital mixer to frequency translate a specific channel frequencydown to baseband using a pair of multipliers 2010 and 2020 inconjunction with a Direct Digital Synthesizer (DDS) 2030 which providesthe signals to be mixed with the input signal. This function enables thedevice comprising the DDC 2000, such as RTSA 600 or RTSA 7000 in FIGS. 6and 7 respectively, to tune the DDC 2000 to the desired frequency ofinterest (channel). The second stage of the DDC 2000 reduces the samplerate of the signal to match the desired channel output bandwidth using aCascaded Integrator Comb (CIC) Sample Rate Adjustment filter 2040 todecimate the data. A second CIC Gain Adjustment filter 2050 provides acoarse gain adjustment stage for the decimate signals. These signals arethen passed to a pair of additional polyphase filters, beingCompensation Finite Impulse Response (CFIR) filter 2060 and ProgrammableFinite Impulse Response (PFIR) filter 2070. This CFIR-PFIR filter pairprovides additional decimation and final signal shaping prior to arounding stage, with rounder 2080, and final output.

The function blocks of the DDC 2000 are primarily implemented usingmultipliers. As today's FPGAs include a wealth of DSP function blocksthat are primarily multipliers and according the DDC 2000 may be mappedonto an FPGA. Additionally, the general-purpose logic resource andon-chip memory of FPGAs also match the requirements of the DDC forimplementing the required FIR filters and their associated filtercoefficient tables. Optionally, the DDC 2000 may be implemented with anApplication Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC). With evolvinggenerations of higher-performance FPGAs where processing precisioncontinues to increase therefore enabling IP-based DDCs to outperformASIC-based solutions in many instances in specification items likebetter Spurious Free Dynamic Range.

From the design of a RTSA implementing the DDC as well as other elementsof the RTSA after the RF front-end provides the ability to implementmany channels of DDC into one, two or more FPGAs allowing a reduction inboard count, power requirements, and cost over a solution that mayrequire tens of individual ASIC chips to provide the same number ofchannels and performance. Additionally, FPGA solutions can be flexibleby supporting vastly different signals with the simple load of an IPcore and reusing the same hardware platform.

FPGAs are not a perfect match for all requirements, as they show thegreatest advantages in systems with high channel densities and typicallynarrower bandwidths where many DDC channels can fit on a single FPGA. Insystems with just one or two channels and very wide bandwidths in therange of 100 MHz or greater, the cost of the FPGAs needed to fit thelarger wideband DDC core(s) might exceed the cost of designing thesystem with a single multi-channel DDC ASIC. Accordingly whilst cost,size, and power are important factors in designing a receiver system,ultimately the technical requirements of the RTSA may dictate the choiceof whether an ASIC or FPGA is used.

Referring to FIG. 21 there is depicted a cascaded integrator comb (CIC)2100 forming part of the digital down conversion circuit according to anembodiment of the invention. CIC 2100 comprising a series of integrators2110 clocked at a first clock rate of f_(C), a rate reducer 2120, and aseries of combs 2130 clocked at a second clock rate of f_(C)/R. Anintegrator 2110 being a single-pole infinite impulse response (IIR)filter with a unity feedback coefficient as given by Equation 1 belowand has a transfer function given by Equation 2.

$\begin{matrix}{{y(n)} = {{y\left( {n - 1} \right)} + {x(n)}}} & (1) \\{{H_{I}(z)} = \frac{1}{1 - z^{- 1}}} & (2)\end{matrix}$

The power response of integrator 2110 is basically a low-pass filterwith a −20 dB per decade (−6 dB per octave) roll-off but with infinitegain at DC. The comb 2130 running at a sampling rate f_(C) for a ratechange is an odd-symmetric finite impulse response (FIR) described byEquation 3 below with corresponding transfer function given in Equation4.y(n)=x(n)−x(n−RM)  (3)H _(C)(z)=1−z ^(−RM)  (4)where M is the differential delay and can be any positive integer, butis usually 1 or 2. When R=1 and M=1 the power response of comb 2130 is ahigh-pass filter with 20 dB per decade gain.

A CIC filter 2100 may be implemented without the rate changer 2120 but“pushing” the comb sections to after the rate changer 2120 allows themto have a transfer function as given by Equation 5 but at a slowersampler rate f_(C)/R. Beneficially such a CIC 2100 with integrators 2110before, and combs 2130, after a rate changer 2120 makes these elementsindependent of the rate change. Accordingly, CIC 2100 may be implementedwith a programmable rate change with the same filtering structureallowing, for example the CIC Sample Rate Adjustment filter 2040 todecimate with varying decimation. For example, a DDC within an RTSA maybe programmable for example with a decimation up to 2¹³=8192.

Accordingly, the transfer function for a CIC filter, such as CIC 2100,operating as is given by Equation 5 below which shows that even though aCIC filter has integrators in it, which by themselves have an infiniteimpulse response, the CIC filter is actually equivalent to N finiteimpulse response (FIR) filters, each having a rectangular impulseresponse. Hence, as all the coefficients of these FIR filters are unity,and symmetric, the CIC filter has a linear phase response and a constantgroup delay. Accordingly the magnitude of the output of the filter canbe shown to given by Equation 6 below.

$\begin{matrix}{{H(z)} = {{{H_{I}^{N}(z)}{H_{C}^{N}(z)}} = {\frac{\left( {1 - z^{- {RM}}} \right)^{N}}{\left( {1 - z^{- 1}} \right)^{N}} = \left( {\sum\limits_{k = 0}^{{RM} - 1}z^{- k}} \right)}}} & (5) \\{{H(f)} \approx {{{RM}\frac{\sin\left( {\pi\;{Mf}} \right)}{\sin\frac{\pi\; f}{R}}}}^{N}} & (6)\end{matrix}$

Approximating sin (x)≈x for small x then for large Equation 6 becomesthat in Equation 7 such that the output spectrum of the CIC has nulls atmultiples of f=1/M. Further the passband attenuation is a function ofthe number of stages and hence whilst increasing the number of stagesimproves the imaging/alias rejection of the filter it also increases thepassband “droop”, and the DC gain is function of the rate change R suchthat appropriate selection of R, M, and N. Considering, a CIC decimatorsuch as CIC Sample Rate Adjustment filter 2040 in FIG. 20, then the gainG at the output is G=(RM)^(N) where, assuming two's complementarithmetic, the number of output bits, B_(OUT), is given by Equation 8.A more extensive analysis and consideration of CIC filters can be foundin the prior art including for example E. Hogenauer in “An EconomicalClass of Digital Filters for Decimation and Interpolation” (IEEE Trans.Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing, ASP-29(2), pp 155-162, 1997).

$\begin{matrix}{{H(f)} = {{{{{RM}\frac{\sin\left( {\pi\;{Mf}} \right)}{\sin\;\pi\;{Mf}}}}^{N}\mspace{14mu}{for}\mspace{14mu} 0} \leq f \leq \frac{1}{M}}} & (7) \\{B_{OUT} = \left\lbrack {{N\mspace{14mu}\log_{2}\;{RM}} + B_{IN}} \right\rbrack} & (8)\end{matrix}$where B_(IN) is the number of input bits.

Now referring to FIG. 22 there is depicted a RTSA array 2200incorporating first to third RTSAs 2210 to 2230 respectively. First andthird RTSAs 2210 and 2230 are interfaced to second RTSA 2220, which isconnected to a network 2240, and to the network 2240. Second RTSA 2220provides the clock to first and third RTSAs 2210 and 2230 thereforesynchronizing these devices to the second RTSA 2220. The scan list of upto 1024 center frequencies in each of the first to third RTSAs 2210 to2230 may be provided to each RTSA individually via network 2240 orcoordinated through second RTSA 2220. Likewise the events/triggers/datawhich are communicated to the remote control system, not shown forclarity, may be communicated directly from each of the RTSAs orcoordinated through second RTSA 2220.

Accordingly as shown in spectrum 2250 the three RTSAs step according tothe predetermined center frequency list such that first RTSA 2210 forexample steps from 150 MHz, 250 MHz, 4550 MHz, and 1850 MHz; second RTSA2220 steps from 1850 MHz, 1950 MHz, 1850 MHz, and 1950 MHz; and thirdRTSA 2230 steps from 6550 MHz, 7850 MHz, 150 MHz, and 2050 MHz. EachRTSA in stepping from one frequency to another configures the associatedRF antenna and RF front-end processing selector circuit, such as RFselector 710, in FIG. 7 together with local oscillator such as LOcircuit 720 which determines down-conversion in the RF processing blocksthat operate on the upper RF ranges of the RTSA, such as High RFProcessing Block 730 (operating 3.0 GHz-8.0 GHz in an embodiment of theinvention) and Mid RF Processing Block 740 (operating 400 MHz-4400 MHz),Demodulator 780A, and Processor 780B. Additionally, the internallysettings of the RTSA for the RF processing elements may be dynamicallyadjusted in dependence upon the center frequency of the RTSA accordingto the parameter configurations stored within the internal memory of theRTSA. For example, the settings of some circuit elements in High RFProcessing Block 730 may be adjusted if the center frequency lies within4 Ghz-5 GHz as opposed to 6 Ghz-8 GHz. Likewise the characteristics ofthe filters, multiplexers, operational amplifiers, low noise amplifiers,etc. may be adjusted in response to the center frequency setting of theRTSA or other factors determined by the RTSA locally or from a remotecontroller. Likewise, a switchable filter array such as filter bank 1010with dual 1:8 switches 1005 and 1015 in FIG. 10 may be replaced by afast variable filter with adjustable center frequency and band-passcharacteristics, such as those employing combines for example.

Similarly the discrete filters, such as filter 1110 in high RFprocessing circuit 1100 and bandpass filter 1510 in mid-RF processingcircuit 1500, may be dynamic, in terms of center frequency and band-passcharacteristics, whilst amplifiers such as first and second amplifiers1520 and 1530 in mid-RF processing circuit 1500 and cascaded first andsecond gain stages 1120 and 1130 in low RF processing circuit 1100 maybe dynamically adjustable in gain applied.

It would be evident to one skilled in the art that the partitioning ofthe RF front end, such as presented supra in respect of FIGS. 7 through19 may be varied according to a number of factors, including but notlimited to, the operational frequency range of the RTSA, application ofRTSA, speed of RTSA, instantaneous bandwidth of RTSA, anticipateddensity of transmitters, etc. Further, the number of DDC and FFTcircuits may be varied either discretely or in conjunction withadjustments in the RF selector 710 and RF combiner 780.

For example discrete multiple FFT circuits may be provided with awideband processing of received RF signals, for example by providing 200MHz bandwidth, and dual FFT circuits processing 100 MHz spectral regionsselected through filtering or dual DDC circuits may be provided todecimate a processed RF signal to different levels or select differentchannels. Alternatively, with modified RF selector 710 and RF combiner780 circuits a RTSA with dual FFT circuits might be processing a first100 MHz bandwidth slice centered at 2.45 GHz, a second 100 MHz bandwidthslice centered at 5.4 GHz, and a DDC processing a channel from abandwidth slice at 1.85 GHz.

Within the embodiments described above in respect of FIGS. 6A through 22have been discussed with respect to a RTSA processing signals from alower frequency limit f_(LOW)=0.10 MHz to an upper frequency limitf_(HIGH)=8.0 GHz it would be evident that the RTSA may be extended forexample by adding a Very-High RF Processing Block such as one operatingfrom 6 GHz to 18 GHz and thereby overlapping with the 6 GHz to 8 GHzportion of the High RF Processing Block. Further whilst the overlappingregions have been presented as contiguous with each respectiveprocessing block frequency range it would be evident to one skilled inthe art that the overlapping region may be in some embodiments of theinvention be discontinuous to the remainder of the frequency rangeprocessed by each processing block. Further within other embodiments afrequency range being monitored by the RTSA may overlap the frequencyranges of three or more processing blocks rather than the two presentedwithin the embodiments described above.

The above-described embodiments of the present invention are intended tobe examples only. Alterations, modifications and variations may beeffected to the particular embodiments by those of skill in the artwithout departing from the scope of the invention, which is definedsolely by the claims appended hereto.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: providing a plurality of input terminals, each input terminal receiving RF signals within a first predetermined portion of a predetermined frequency range; and providing a plurality of RF processing circuits connected to the plurality of input terminals, each RF processing circuit performing a predetermined processing function on a second predetermined portion of the predetermined frequency range, wherein each of the plurality of second predetermined portions of the predetermined frequency range comprise a first predetermined sub-set of frequencies that are the same as a second predetermined sub-set of frequencies within another one of the plurality of second predetermined frequency ranges, providing the plurality of RF processing circuits comprises providing a direct-conversion receiver as one of the plurality of RF processing circuits, the direct-conversion receiver operating with a local oscillator having a frequency approximately the same as the centre frequency of the second predetermined portion of the predetermined frequency range associated with the one of the plurality of RF processing circuits, and another RF processing circuit of the plurality of RF processing circuits at least one of: down-converts and up-converts the associated second predetermined portion of the predetermined frequency range to an intermediate frequency that lies within the second predetermined portion of the predetermined frequency range of the direct-conversion receiver; and down-converts and up-converts a plurality of subsets of the associated second predetermined portion of the predetermined frequency range to a plurality of intermediate frequencies that lie within the second predetermined portion of the predetermined frequency range of the direct-conversion receiver.
 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein each RF processing circuit of the plurality of RF processing circuits processes all signals within the associated second predetermined portion of the predetermined frequency range simultaneously.
 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein providing the plurality of RF processing circuits comprises providing one RF processing circuit comprising an intermediate frequency filter bank comprising a plurality of selectable IF filters, each selectable IF filter being characterized by a centre frequency and a bandwidth and rejecting signals outside its bandwidth.
 4. A device comprising: a plurality of input terminals, each input terminal receiving RF signals within a first predetermined portion of a predetermined frequency range; and a plurality of RF processing circuits connected to the plurality of input terminals, each RF processing circuit performing a predetermined processing function on a second predetermined portion of the predetermined frequency range, wherein each of the plurality of second predetermined portions of the predetermined frequency range comprise a first predetermined sub-set of frequencies that are the same as a second predetermined sub-set of frequencies within another one of the plurality of second predetermined frequency ranges, the plurality of RF processing circuits comprises providing a direct-conversion receiver as one of the plurality of RF processing circuits, the direct-conversion receiver operating with a local oscillator having a frequency approximately the same as the centre frequency of the second predetermined portion of the predetermined frequency range associated with the one of the plurality of RF processing circuits, and another RF processing circuit of the plurality of RF processing circuits at least one of: down-converts and up-converts the associated second predetermined portion of the predetermined frequency range to an intermediate frequency that lies within the second predetermined portion of the predetermined frequency range of the direct-conversion receiver; and down-converts and up-converts a plurality of subsets of the associated second predetermined portion of the predetermined frequency range to a plurality of intermediate frequencies that lie within the second predetermined portion of the predetermined frequency range of the direct-conversion receiver.
 5. The device according to claim 4, wherein each RF processing circuit of the plurality of RF processing circuits processes all signals within the associated second predetermined portion of the predetermined frequency range simultaneously.
 6. The device according to claim 4, wherein providing the plurality of RF processing circuits comprises providing one RF processing circuit comprising an intermediate frequency filter bank comprising a plurality of selectable IF filters, each selectable IF filter being characterized by a centre frequency and a bandwidth and rejecting signals outside its bandwidth.
 7. A device comprising: a plurality of input terminals, each input terminal receiving RF signals within a first predetermined portion of a predetermined frequency range; and a plurality of RF processing circuits connected to the plurality of input terminals, each RF processing circuit performing a predetermined processing function on a second predetermined portion of the predetermined frequency range, wherein each of the plurality of second predetermined portions of the predetermined frequency range comprise a first predetermined sub-set of frequencies that are the same as a second predetermined sub-set of frequencies within another one of the plurality of second predetermined frequency ranges, the plurality of RF processing circuits comprises providing a direct-conversion receiver as one of the plurality of RF processing circuits, the direct-conversion receiver operating with a local oscillator having a frequency approximately the same as the centre frequency of the second predetermined portion of the predetermined frequency range associated with the one of the plurality of RF processing circuits, and another RF processing circuit of the plurality of RF processing circuits at least one of down-converts and up-converts a predetermined portion of the associated second predetermined portion of the predetermined frequency range to within the second predetermined portion of the predetermined frequency range of the direct-conversion receiver.
 8. The device according to claim 7, wherein the predetermined portion of the associated second portion of the predetermined frequency range is converted to intermediate frequencies that lie within the second predetermined portion of the predetermined frequency range of the direct-conversion receiver.
 9. The device according to claim 7, wherein the predetermined portion of the associated second portion of the predetermined frequency range is a plurality of subsets of the associated second predetermined portion of the predetermined frequency range wherein each of the plurality of subsets of the associated second predetermined portion of the predetermined frequency range are converted to a plurality of intermediate frequencies that lie within the second predetermined portion of the predetermined frequency range of the direct-conversion receiver.
 10. The device according to claim 7, wherein each RF processing circuit of the plurality of RF processing circuits processes all signals within the associated second predetermined portion of the predetermined frequency range simultaneously.
 11. The device according to claim 7, wherein providing the plurality of RF processing circuits comprises providing one RF processing circuit comprising an intermediate frequency filter bank comprising a plurality of selectable IF filters, each selectable IF filter being characterized by a centre frequency and a bandwidth and rejecting signals outside its bandwidth. 